Mumbai: Publicis Groupe has launched its special New Year Wishes campaign, marking a historic milestone as the company prepares to enter its second century in 2026. Titled “New Year. New Century. New Wishes.”, the initiative blends the Groupe’s rich legacy with cutting-edge AI innovation to celebrate 100 years of creativity, resilience, and reinvention.
Tracing its beginnings from a small creative hot shop in Montmartre in 1926 to becoming the world’s leading advertising holding company, Publicis Groupe highlights a century defined by transformation, expansion, and technological progress. Yet, one tradition remains unchanged — the annual New Year Wishes — this year crafted by Publicis Conseil, the agency founded by Marcel Bleustein Blanchet.
The film, “A Lion Never Gives Up,” uses a hybrid production approach, combining live action, real actors, and AI-driven 2D and 3D imagery developed through the Groupe’s proprietary platforms. The narrative brings to life the pioneering spirit and unwavering resilience that helped Publicis endure war, fire, economic downturns, technological shifts and even a global pandemic — qualities that continue to shape its leadership as it enters its next century.
Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and CEO, Publicis Groupe, said, “2026 will be a very special year for us, as we end our first century. A century where we have turned a small hot shop from Montmartre into the industry’s largest holding company over the last two years. A century that has seen the Groupe rise from the ashes – sometimes literally – three times and reinvented itself many more. It is this spirit of resilience that has defined us for 100 years and that is captured in our Wishes: a lion never gives up.”
“2026 will also be the year where we enter our second century, the beginning of which will undoubtedly be defined by the rise of AI. This film is a human, historical and technological odyssey, that blends our best creative minds with our unmatched capabilities in AI production to embody our belief that the future of AI is our people.”
Audiences can discover the story of the lion that never gives up and also watch the exclusive documentary on 100 years of Publicis, featuring Elizabeth Badinter, Maurice Lévy and Arthur Sadoun.
The Film:
A unique hybrid production:
A Lion Never Gives Up merges live action with GenAI-driven 2D and 3D imaging to recreate moments from Publicis’ long history. This approach significantly reduced the cost of reconstructing historical scenes while unlocking new creative avenues.
A massive visual archive effort:
AI prompt artists and AI archivists sourced, managed, and catalogued over 4,500 images to build approximately 150 individual shots, drawing from decades of archival photos, documents, and footage.
A reinvented editing workflow:
Unlike traditional editing, where scenes are locked once production concludes, the AI-driven pipeline allowed every shot to remain fluid. Each frame could be regenerated from scratch, enabling unprecedented creative flexibility.
Credits:
Publicis Conseil
Global CEO/CCO Leo – CEO/CCO Publicis Conseil – CCO Publicis Groupe France : Marco Venturelli
Agathe Bousquet – Présidente Publicis Groupe France et Présidente de Publicis Conseil
Alexis Ben Behe – Directeur de Création Executif / Executive Creative Director
Maud Robaglia – Directrice de Création / Creation Director
Gurvan Prioul – Creative & UX Design Director / Directeur Créatif et UX Design
Hamza Ben Maadoum – Directeur Artistique Junior
Production : Prodigious Paris
CEO Prodigious : Christopher Thiery
MD Prodigious : Caroline Petruccelli
Producteur Exécutif : Yann Dubois
Post producteur : Cédric Herbet
VFX creative Director : Nico Vogel
DOP : Nicolas LOIR
Chef opérateur son cinéma : Damien PERROLAZ
Directrice de production : Marie Caron
Son : Prodigious
Producteur son : Martin Sumeire
Mix, sound design : KOUZ
Le documentaire “L’avenir est l’affaire de Publicis »
Réalisation Stanislas Valroff
Production : Eddy Story
Tourné au Studio XR Prodigious
